John Pain named chief of bureau for AP’s Mid-Atlantic territory

Pain new bureau chief for AP’s Mid-Atlantic region

NEW YORK — John Pain, an editor for The Associated Press in Florida who has also served as acting assistant chief of bureau, has been named chief of bureau for the news cooperative’s Mid-Atlantic region.

The appointment was announced Monday by Kate Lee Butler, vice president for U.S. Newspaper Markets.

Pain will be based in Washington, D.C., where he will oversee AP news and business operations for Maryland and Delaware. His responsibilities also will include oversight of business operations in Washington and general news coverage of the city and its suburbs, including northern Virginia.

He succeeds David Wilkison, who was promoted in May to director of major accounts for the AP’s U.S. newspaper markets. Dorothy Abernathy, chief of bureau for Virginia and West Virginia, has overseen the Mid-Atlantic territory on an interim basis along with acting assistant chief of bureau Stephanie Stoughton.

“John has distinguished himself in a variety of challenging roles and projects at the Associated Press, and so brings an excellent mix of news and business skills to his new role as Mid-Atlantic chief of bureau,” Butler said.

Pain, 35, joined the AP in Miami in 2002 and has worked there as acting assistant bureau chief, day supervisor and business writer. He helped lead coverage and race calling of the 2008 election in Florida, the devastating 2004-2005 hurricane seasons and the Terri Schiavo end-of-life dispute.

He also developed the AP’s hurricane coverage training for print reporters.

From 2000 to 2001, he worked as an editor and reporter for Agence France-Presse’s financial newswire in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and an English-language daily newspaper in Buenos Aires. Previously, he was editor of a trade newspaper publisher in Chicago.

He graduated in 1996 from the State University of New York, College at Geneseo.